HISTORY OF NORTH-AMERICAN CULTURE

The course aims at introducing students to American cultural studies through the acquisition of concepts and methodologies and the analysis of heterogeneous materials examined and contextualized from a historical/cultural perspective. Students are expected to develop autonomous ability to analyze cultural materials through a specific critical vocabulary of medium-advanced level.

The learning outcomes of these course entail developing:
1. Good knowledge of the some basic elements in American cultural studies;
2. Ability to apply such knowledge to the critical analysis of cultural products;
3. Ability to formulate critical hypotheses and judgments;
4. Communication skills and appropriate terminology;
5. Autonomous reading of handbooks and suggested materials.

Good knowledge of English (≥ B2).

Race and American Culture
This course focuses on how American culture has historically addressed the issue of blackness, from the institution of slavery till the battle for Civil Rights during the 20th century. Nowadays perceived as “the original sin” of the United States, slavery is in fact at the basis of the division along the color line of American society, and intersects issues of economy, culture, and politics; despite being abolished in the 19th century, slavery does in fact produce meanings even today. After a short theoretical introduction to American Studies and blackness/whiteness, the course will have a diachronic approach: it will consider the Middle Passage and the horrors of slavery, the fight to abolish it during the first half of the 19th century, the continuation of a segregated system during Jim Crow, to conclude with a discussion of 20th century struggle for Civil Rights and the desegregation of the United States. Different types of sources will be used: visual material, poems, political speeches, and films.

PRIMARY SOURCES
12 Years a Slave (film)
The Birth of a Nation (film)
Gone with the Wind (film)
DuBois, extracts (Norton)
Hughes, Langston. selected poems (Moodle)
Ralph Ellison. Prologue to Invisible Man.
King, Martin Luther. “I Have a Dream” (free online)


SECONDARY SOURCES
Stefano Luconi, Dalle piantagioni allo studio ovale: l’inserimento degli afroamericani nella politica statunitense. Cleup, 2013, pp. 1-196.
Rankine, Claudia. “The Condition of Black Life Is One of Mourning”. The New York Times (June 22, 2015): https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/magazine/the-condition-of-black-life-is-one-of-mourning.html .
Kirby, Jack Temple. “D.W. Griffith’s Racial Portraiture”, Phylon, 1978.
“The 1619 Project”. The New York Times.

PLEASE VISIT THE MOODLE PAGE OF THE COURSE FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF THE MANDATORY TEXTS.

ORAL EXAM (in English, 30 minutes):
1) assessment of students' general knowledge of the syllabus
2) identification and analysis of excerpts with the purpose of assessing skills for communication, analysis and contextualization
3) further questions on the extra-readings for non-attending students

Students who cannot attend must inform the professor and study some further material (see folder on Moodle)

Lectures and class discussion are the teaching modalities of this course. Students who cannot attend classes must contact Prof. Bordin for alternative readings.

English

All students (both attending and non-attending ones) are required to subscribe to the Moodle page of the course.

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development